Dana Deco-Mednes, assistant to the Mayor, Cynthia Barmor and Modiin Mayor Haim Bibas.

On November 18, ESRA Modiin participated in the municipality’s first ever open book exchange. We were asked by Deputy Mayor Moish Levy to supervise the English books swap, “bring one, take one”. The event was organized by council member Levana Shiffman within the framework of her portfolio of environmental quality.

We brought two boxes of English books for starters, including fiction, non-fiction, kids' books and more, and advertized on our local Modiin List for people to bring English books – and they did! We started with one table, and very soon we needed two tables. Books came and went with great speed and at the end of the evening we had five boxes of books left over which we took to the ESRAbooks shop for future sale (as part of the agreement with the municipality).

We had an opportunity to distribute thirty ESRA Magazines and talk about the bookshop to Israelis and Anglos alike – which was excellent exposure for us. ESRA volunteers included Helen Brandwein, Lynn and Leon Lipchin, Rachel Max and myself.